It has some raging, aggressive moments, but more importantly some of the best dreamy, gaze Deftones moment. But most of the songs are great, and the highs are truly epic. It’s noticeable how it is from the band’s chaotic period, because it is indeed a chaotic album. The most underrated Deftones album, and a huge grower for me. It takes the youthful aggression from the debut and combines it with atmospherics and dynamics. “Around the Fur” is the breakthrough album where Deftones truly became Deftones. Also, the audio production is far from great. I found the album to be pretty good, especially in the beginning, but it also features some the band’s least engaging songs. The quality does ebb and flow a lot, but the high points are amazing, especially the ultra-brutal “Bloody Cape” and “Hexagram”. Deftones (2003)Ī chaotic album from the band’s self-proclaimed “dark period”. “Ohms” is a very perplexing release it has everything a great Deftones album should have, but it just fails to get there for me. I looked forward to this one so much, but it faded from my playlist way too fast. When it comes to “Ohms”, I disagree with most of the Deftones fanbase. The debut “Adrenaline” is Deftones most aggressive album, a youthful display with signs of the greatness to come. “White Pony” is regarded as the classic Deftones album, and it certainly is both ground-breaking and widely influential. I suppose my advice for understanding Deftones is to be patient and try different albums and songs. The first heavier Deftones songs that I liked were “Tempest” and “Leathers” from the “Koi No Yokan” album. I come from extreme music, but the song that eventually got me was “Sextape”, one of the dreamiest Deftones songs. Do you come from a heavier or lighter side of music? Starting out with Deftones and understanding them has a lot to do with where you come from. The band has a very broad scope of influences. Most people will find songs or albums that they like, and probably material that they don’t like as well. I lumped Deftones in with late-90’s nu-metal like Korn, Slipknot and System of a Down, and it’s something completely different. Yes, yes, yes! I disregarded the band for years and didn’t even listen to a song. I wouldn’t really consider them a metal band, as it’s simply too narrow, and the band isn’t listed on Metal Archives. Some genres Deftones have been described as are:Īll of them are correct, at least if you’re describing a particular song. And that also what makes the band so exciting. What genre is Deftones?īut what the hell is Deftones then? Oh, that’s very hard to say. There are nu-metal elements in their music and they broke through to the mainstream in the nu-metal era, but Deftones really are something else. The first question that pops up from many metalheads is, “aren’t Deftones nu-metal?”. Musician, songwriter, content creator, digital freelancer.Here, I’ll answer all the important questions about Deftones, and I’ll guide you to the songs and albums to start out with. More importantly, understanding Deftones – and why you should listen to them! I usually mostly talk about extreme metal on this site, so let’s change it up and talk about Deftones.